Friday, March 22, 2013

Top 10 Energy Saving Tips From Eskom

Your refrigerator – Do not overload your fridge, excessive products in your fridge will lower the quality of food and use more electricity-as much as 10-20% more for each extra product.

Your electric stove- Bring food to the boil quickly on the “high” setting, then turn the heat down to simmer and finish cooking

Your microwave - Defrost your food in the refrigerator overnight instead of the microwave oven: it is more economical.

Your small kitchen appliances – using these appliances instead of the stove can save energy. Toasters, electric grills, slow cookers and electric coffee pots usually require less energy than the stove when used correctly. Use an electric kettle to boil water, not a sauce pan or a microwave

Your lights – with the correct lighting you will save energy, money and eye strain by lighting your home properly. The wattage of a bulb is not a measure of the amount of light it gives, but rather the energy it uses. For instance, a 100watt bulb gives 50% more light than four 25 watt bulbs. Fluorescent lights give five times the light and last up to 10 times as long as ordinary bulbs.

Your Air conditioning – set your air conditioning unit to re-circulate cool air instead of drawing in warmer outside air. Protect the outdoor cooling units from the sun. Place them on the South or shady side of your house.

Your Washing machine – the automatic washing machine uses the same amount of electricity for a full load as it consumes for a single item. Save dirty clothes until a full load has accumulated.

Your iron consumes as much energy as ten 100 watt light bulbs. Iron low temperature garments first to reduce warm up time, iron large batches of clothing at one time to avoid wasting energy reheating the iron several times.

Your geyser – to optimize electricity efficiency, geysers should be located as close as possible to the points where hot water is being used, insulated hot water pipes maintain their temperature at constant levels and prevent heat loss.